Deception Recap 1×01
A young woman is scrambling to get away from something. As the scene ends she exclaims “oh you scared me” to a man she seems to know. Thirty seconds later we see this same woman angelically placed on a bed, eyes bloodshot and open, she’s dead. Business partners are sitting together discussing this new miracle drug said to cure cancer.
We enter New York City’s FBI office where we meet our stars of the show Meagan Good and her co-star Tate Donavan. It’s clear that there is some form of tension, good or bad, between Joanna and her superior officer. She is sent to figure out why the woman from the first scene is dead. Though it was ruled an overdose, the FBI has reason to believe it was a homicide. Joanna is warned this case will be harder to deal with than others, because this young woman happens to be her childhood best friend Vivan. The FBI wants to use this to their advantage as they believe the family will be welcoming to Joanna since she lived with them as a child. This case is very important because Joanna happened to be the daughter of the millionaire designing the miracle drug.
The family’s reaction to Joanna returning “home” after 17yrs is mixed. The father welcomes her with open arms, so does her childhood secret lover Julian (Vivian’s brother). Joanna is urged to stay with them when she lets it slip during dinner she’s between jobs. Mia’s 16 year old sister, mother, and oldest brother all oppose Joanna staying there, calling her a stranger. Joanna accepts the offer and promises to look for a place of her own.
The oldest brother finds time to let Joanna officially know he doesn’t trust her, Vivan’s mother also makes that quite clear. When Joanna overhears a conversation between Mia and an older male she intervenes, but Mia calls him her study partner. Joanna occasionally has flashbacks to the last night she saw Vivan. Late night another one of her sneaking out of the house stunts but she vomits as she tries to stop Joanna from telling. Joanna screams, “What did you take? What did you take?’ Joanna then runs to get help from Vivan’s father but Vivans softly says, “you don’t understand.” This flashback happens at least twice during this episode.
Joanna ,while on a late night call with her partner from FBI, sees a man with a camera outside of Mia’s room. She grabs the guy and questions him, but he can tell by her moves she’s no ordinary girl, she’s a cop. He claims he was hired by Mia after she found his number with her sisters’ things. Joanna and Remy decide to work together after he fills her in that the new drug is actually a hoax and Vivan’s father is cheating people out of money. The drug is proven to have deadly side effects, but the company just hides this. He believes Vivan found this out and that is why she is now dead. They separate with Remy promising to keep her informed.
The next day, Vivan’s father offers Joanna a job thanks to Julian. Joanna then gets a call from Remy while she’s searching Vivan’s apartment. She finds a picture of Mia at 2 years old in a box. Along with a video recording of Vivan having sex with a man who tells her this pregnancy won’t be like the last one. It will be on your terms he says. Remy is killed in a head on collision while waiting for Joanna. Her partner wants her to stop the case, but she now feels she owes it to her friend. Joanna is puzzled by the video and calls around to find out what was going on with Vivan 15 years ago when she supposedly went away to rehab. She confirms that she was pregnant when she died. Joanna also confirms that Vivan had a baby 16 years ago. After confirming birthdays it’s official, Mia is Vivan’s daughter and not her sister. Deception airs Monday nights 10/9c on NBC.
